Constantine and the Cross 1961

Constantine is fighting against Barbarians with his father when he is called to Rome. In his way to Rome, he falls in an ambush planned by Maxence, who wants to become emperor.

Ben-Hur 1959

In 25 AD, Judah Ben-Hur, a Jew in ancient Judea, opposes the occupying Roman empire. Falsely accused by a Roman childhood friend-turned-overlord of trying to kill the Roman governor, he is put into slavery and his mother and sister are taken away as prisoners.

Esterina 1959

Esterina, a young war orphan, joins two truck drivers, Gino and Piero, on their trips along Northern Italy. She wants to find her luck in the big city, but her dreams turn into disappointing experiences. She falls in love with Gino but he is not interested in her, until she disappears...

First Love 1959

Ugo meets the 18-year-old Renata in the hostel where she is staying. He falls in love with and leaves with her for several romantic places until the money ends. Ugo will try to get the girl engaged on a local TV station, but Renata falls in love with a manager.

Casta diva 1954

As soon as he graduated from the Naples Conservatory, Vincenzo Bellini meets Maddalena Fumaroli and immediately falls in love with her.

House of Ricordi 1954

The film covers a hundred years in the lives of the Ricordi family, the Milan publishing house of the title, and the various composers and other historic personalities, whose careers intersected with the growth of the Ricordi house. It beautifully draws the parallel between the great music of the composers, the historic and social upheavals of their times, as well as the "smaller stories" of the successive generations of Ricordi.

Love in the City 1953

Six vignettes explore love and desire in Rome, from prostitution and heartache to unwed motherhood and the male gaze.

Puccini 1953

Produced in Italy in breathtaking Technicolor, this biographical story of Puccini (played by L'avventura's Gabriele Ferzetti) spans his creative life from early student days to the height of success, including his early flop Madama Butterfly and his incomplete Turandot. Along the way he encounters three women who change his life, including a sexy, beautiful singer (Two for the Road's Nadia Gray) whom he drops for a small town girl (Sirocco's Marta Toren), and a servant girl who commits suicide over him. Well-selected excerpts from Manon, La Boheme, Madama Butterfly and Turandot are featured along with other Puccini music, including the voice of Beniamino Gigli. Sets, costumes and production values are first class, all sumptuously filmed by Claude Renoir.

È arrivato l'accordatore 1952

Achille Scorzella, a poor, unemployed and hungry devil, having been mistaken for a piano tuner, happens in the home of some new riches.

Il trovatore 1949

Azucena, daughter of a Gypsy burnt at the stake, to take her revenge kidnaps one of the children of Count de Luna and raises him in secret as her own.

City of Pain 1949

The city of Pola is being evacuated after the peace conference of 1947 decided to assign the sovereignty to Tito's Yugoslavia. However the main character decides to stay, thinking that Communism might bring him a better future. Life turns to be hard for him and his family until he changes his mind, but he is killed before he can leave the country.

Il barone Carlo Mazza 1948

Rosa Pezza, a beautiful young girl, is forced into a thousand maneuvers and subterfuges to gain possession of a rich inheritance. She is ultimately forced to marry the penniless and bizarre baron Carlo Mazza but the baron, tired of his wife's escapades, decides to divorce her...

Una lettera all'alba 1948

The Gorgon 1942

1017 AD. The Republic of Pisa is organizing a fleet to drive out the Saracens who are infesting the Mediterranean. While the forces are away "The Gorgon," the young daughter of a Pisan nobleman who has been heroically killed, comes to be solemnly invested as the figurehead virgin who will maintain a lantern to celebrate the men's victorious return. In charge of the home guard is an ambitious young Florentine who feels deprived of the forthcoming honour and glory, and who seeks revenge by violating the sacred person of the virgin. He gains access to her well guarded quarters, but when the Gorgon falls helplessly in love with him, his desire for vengeance falls away. His plot exposed, he commits suicide rather than invoke the wrath of the Pisans. The Gorgon too takes her life by throwing herself from a high tower. Meanwhile, the victorious Pisan vessels return.

La mazurka di papà 1938

Scipio Africanus: The Defeat of Hannibal 1937

A story of the Second Punic Wars, beginning with Scipio's futile pleas to the Roman Senate to build an army to battle Hannibal, that climaxes with the battle of Zama.

Lorenzino de' Medici 1935

Lorenzino de 'Medici manipulates Alessandro ruler of Florence to save his beloved Bianca.

Destiny Unknown 1935

Based on fact, Passaporto Rosso (Red Passport) details the plight of a group of poor Italian immigrants who are hired as railroad workers in turn-of-the-century South America. In addition to facing poverty, deprivation, and prejudice, the immigrants are also bedeviled by a raging fever epidemic. Finally achieving a measure of prosperity, the Italians are forced to confront tragedy once more when their grown children march off to WWI. Though Isa Miranda is top-billed, she has very little to do in comparison with male lead Filippo Scelso. Passaporto Rosso was released in the U.S. as Destiny Unknown.

The Betrothed 1922

Based on the famous historical novel by Alessandro Manzoni, and set between 1628 and 1630 in Lombardy, Northern Italy, during the Spanish domination, the film displays the marriage between two young textile workers, Renzo and Lucia. The 1922 version is one of the most ambitious and spectacular films in all Italian silent cinema, with remarkable mass scenes and some images that sparked controversy.